Deadlines. Tenseness. Racing Thoughts. Tasks. Projects. Deadlines.
Once my arch enemy, the deadline is now one of my dearest friends. Not that I had ever really known my enemy. If I had, I would have saved myself a lot of unnecessary dread and stress. While I can’t guarantee anything, I firmly believe that once you appreciate the benefits of deadlines, you’ll actually volunteer one when no one even asks. Here’s why:
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They establish personal time-lines. Think of it this way… personal time-lines guarantee something: that you’ll finish a project or task in the foreseeable future. Now, when you haven’t even begun that project or task, this can be a little intimidating, especially if that job is complicated with many sub-tasks. The key is to break up your project into do-able actions and establish a time-line for each. Use the mini-deadlines to build up to your ultimate goal.
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Deadlines hold others accountable. If your project depends on other individuals, teams, or external vendors, do yourself a service: request a deadline that they agree to meet. This reduces the stress you’ll feel when your project is held up by circumstances that you feel are out of your control. If someone can’t meet the deadline that you were promised and it threatens your ability to meet the deadline that you promised, be proactive and schedule a call or meeting to identify prohibiting factors. Establish a new ETA along with expectations if that ETA is not reached.
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Deadlines help you stay on task. If you work in an environment in which your supervisor establishes certain deadlines for you, volunteering your own deadlines or establishing mutual deadlines can work strides towards giving you a more manageable workload. Mark Forster writes about this beautifully and gives step-by-step pointers in his post, The Problem with Deadlines in his blog, “Get Everything Done”. If you can keep a big-picture understanding of the responsibilities that are yours to complete, the date you’re expected to complete them by, and the resources that are required from third parties in order for you to deliver upon that deadline, and then communicate your overall workload effectively, you’ll virtually guarantee yourself a reduced stress environment. Your projects will be organized; your resources less strained.
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They can (and should) be dynamic. If you can reach all of your deadlines on the date that they were originally set, kudos to you. But if you work in a dynamic industry or company that innovates change on a daily basis, priorities can come up that require immediate attention. When that happens, acknowledge that priority, determine how much effort it will take and redefine the deadlines for projects of lesser priority until you have reconstructed a realistic workload. Don’t forget to account for the unexpected.
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They establish do-ability. A very professional term, I know. Make sure you proactively communicate your deadlines to your team leader. If they question the date you’ve set, chat about the project’s needs. Now both of you are accountable for prioritizing your projects and you can free yourself of the pressure of meeting deadlines that you can’t possibly meet. If you’re skeptical about how receptive your team leader will be, setting your own ETAs establishes your seriousness about a project, ambition, and organizational abilities. It’s also possible that your team leader can help speed up the process. Finally, it shows that you care and gives you a chance to communicate your efforts on priority projects. And you deserve that recognition.
Deadlines. Relaxation. Organization. Tasks. Projects. Deadlines.
-JV
